College football rankings: Purdue careening off the rails as Houston, Stanford join the Bottom 25

25. Houston 2-5 In the spirit of the Halloween season, we welcome Houston to the FBS graveyard. Willie Fritz is a great coach, and smart money says that he’ll get this thing turned around. It’s going to take a loooooot of time and patience though. Honing an offense that’s scoring an FBS-worst 13.7 points per game would be a good place to start. (Last week: NR) 24. Florida Atlantic 2-5 Florida Atlantic’s been bouncing in and out of the Bottom 25 all year, but recent AAC results seem to indicate the Owls will be a mainstay down the stretch. They have yet to pick up a conference win, and two of their three losses have come by at least two possessions. Luckily they get a bye this week to lick their wounds. (NR)  23. Georgia State 2-4 Remember when Georgia State beat Vanderbilt? Unlike most years, that’s actually an accomplishment in 2024. It’s certainly the high point of the Panthers’ season thus far and — given that they have not won since — will probably remain that way for a good long while. (NR)  22. Hawaii 2-5 Hawaii is another team that’s fluctuated in and out of the Bottom 25. Like FAU, early conference returns indicate the Rainbow Warriors will now be around for a while. Washington State is, for all intents and purposes (though not actually) a Mountain West team this year, and Hawaii just lost 42-10 to the Cougars. That was the Warriors’ third defeat in a row, as they’re still searching for their first FBS win. (NR) 21. Temple 2-5 Temple! Stan Drayton’s squad did justice to the Owl name — and, if these rankings are any indication, it’s been a rough year for Owls — by downing Tulsa 20-10. Maybe they can keep that momentum rolling Saturday against an East Carolina team that just fired its head coach. (14) 20. Appalachian State 2-4 Appalachian State had a bye in Week 8, which gave it extra time to prepare for a huge Bottom 25 showdown against Georgia State. The Mountaineers are currently a -285 money line betting favorite to win the showdown, according to DrafKings Sportsbook. Get past the Panthers, and that might be enough to help the ‘Neers climb out of this pit. (18)  19. Florida State 1-6 Florida State lost to Duke for the first time in program history and only dropped one spot. Congratulations to Mike Norvell, for finding new ways to set the bar even lower. The Seminoles are now one loss away from falling out of bowl contention. Let’s be honest, though. They quit on this year a while ago. (20)  18. Stanford 2-5 Stanford must have made some sort of Faustian bargain to beat Syracuse, in that the Cardinal traded an ACC win for the ability to play competent offense. Since putting 26 points on the board against the Orange, they’ve scored a combined 38 in four games. Predictably, they’re 0-4 in that span. Wake Forest could be a get-right game this Saturday. (NR) 17. Mississippi State 1-6 Jeff Lebby certainly has Mississippi State trending in the right direction, even if the record may not indicate it yet. The Bulldogs have played Georgia and Texas A&M close in consecutive weeks. Sure, fans want those strong efforts into wins, but it’s nice to see a program clearly in the midst of a rebuild display some glimmers of hope. Maybe the Dawgs can get over the hump against Arkansas. (19)  16. Tulsa 2-5 Since Sept. 21’s win against fellow Bottom 25 mainstay Louisiana Tech, Tulsa has been outscored 121-37. The Golden Hurricanes do not play a single opponent with a winning record over the last month and change, so it’s worth watching to see if they get things turned around. (17) 15. Utah State 1-6 Utah State hasn’t had any trouble scoring. The Aggies managed to net 45 points against New Mexico in Week 8, marking their third-straight game with at least 30. It was also their third-straight loss. I guess that’s the tradeoff for fielding one of the worst defensive units in the FBS: Utah State currently ranks 132nd in total defense and 132nd in scoring defense. (16) 14. New Mexico State 2-5 Look at you, Aggies. Didn’t know you had it in you. New Mexico State got its first FBS win of the year by downing Louisiana Tech in overtime. Now it gets a bye to revel in the glory and prepare for a winnable game against Florida International. (6) 13. Troy 1-6 Troy has broken the 20-point mark just twice this season against FBS opponents. One of those games was against Iowa, as we would expect. The Trojans haven’t done it since and, in fact, have scored double-digit points just once in three such games. This despite new head coach Gerad Parker’s offensive coordinator background. His brand of football certainly is offensive, if only to the eyes. (15)  12. UAB 1-6 UAB rose one spot after a 10-point loss to South Florida. Do not let that distract you from the fact that Trent Dilfer has completely trashed a once-proud program, and reset the tremendous progress the Blazers made before his arrival. (11)  11. Middle Tennessee 2-5 Congratulations to coach Derek Mason for earning his first Conference USA win. All it took was beating a Kennesaw State program that looks like it’s never even heard of the game of football before. Next on the docket is Jacksonville State — another recent FCS-to-FBS expat — on Tuesday night. (5) 10. Southern Miss 1-6 East Carolina beat Southern Miss to the title of “First FBS team to fire their head coach this year” by a couple of hours, but the Golden Eagles did what needed to be done anyway by canning Will Hall Sunday afternoon. The rest of the year is dedicated to identifying candidates while trying to convince at least a few players to stick around. (12)  9. Purdue 1-6 Purdue is the first Power Four team to really earn a bottom-10 spot this year. Any signs of progress in a narrow Week 7 loss to Illinois were completely wiped off the board in Week 8 when the Boilermakers struggled to get the ball past the 50-yard line against Oregon’s first team. A bye this week provides them a brief reprieve, but three ranked opponents await in their last five games.  (13) 8. UTEP 1-6 It’s a week of firsts in the Bottom 25! UTEP coach Scotty Walden got his first win with the Miners in Week 8 by beating Florida International 30-21. For a team that was firmly in the 0-12 conversation, that is legitimately a huge accomplishment. (3) 7. UMass 1-6 In spite of the fact that it had a bye in Week 8, UMass still dropped three spots. That’s just cruel to the Minutemen. At least they should beat FCS Wagner on Saturday. (10)  6. Air Force 1-6 Air Force collected its second straight Bottom 25 loss last week when Colorado State waltzed out of Falcon Stadium with a 21-13 win. It’s been tough for the Falcons, but at least they can’t possibly lose this week. They have a bye. (9)  5. Wyoming 1-6 Wyoming looked like it might be turning the corner with a 12-point win against Air Force and then a 3-point loss to San Diego State (progress for a team like Wyoming), but then it lost by 10 to San Jose State. That’s a lot of numbers to say the Cowboys are still really bad. Now they’re almost assuredly going to miss out on a bowl for the first time since 2020. (8)  4. Akron 1-6 Akron was another unlucky team that saw its stock plummet during the bye week. The Zips will host 5-2 Eastern Michigan Saturday, looking to keep their scant postseason hopes alive. (7)  3. Ball State 2-5 Going to start calling Ball State the Cardiac Cardinals. They were a couple plays away from upsetting Vanderbilt before the Commodores pulled away late in Week 8. Three of Ball State’s loss have come by three points or fewer, and both of its wins were by one possession. Evidence suggests the Cards are pretty un-clutch. (4) 2. Kent State 0-7 Kent State is the first team to officially be eliminated from bowl contention. Many will follow in the next couple of weeks, but the Golden Flashes will always be the first. Hang the banner.  (2)  1. Kennesaw State 0-6 The worst of the FBS Owls, and that’s really saying something. Kennesaw State is certainly careening towards seven losses. It has to play Liberty, which has yet to lose a regular season game under coach Jamey Chadwell, Tuesday night. The Flames haven’t looked like world-beaters this year, but Kennesaw probably isn’t the school that’s going to pull the rug out from under them. (1)